Entertainment

Update: Sony's official statement regarding this matter is, "We submitted our app in accordance with the precedent set by other eBook retailers.”

Update 2:Apple spokesperson Trudy Miller tells us, ""We have not changed our developer terms or guidelines. We are now requiring that if an app offers customers the ability to purchase books outside of the app, that the same option is also available to customers from within the app with in-app purchase."

Apple might be cracking down on in-app purchases made outside of the App Store, a new report from the New York Times indicates.

Sony announced that its Reader for iPhone app was rejected from the App Store, citing changes to the way Apple enforces its policies. The reason for the rejection, according to the New York Times, was its use of in-app purchases.

Apple added support for in-app purchases back in iOS 3.0 as a way for developers to create an add-on ecosystem to applications. Like regular App Store purchases, Apple takes a 30% cut of the revenue from in-app purchases. This 30% figure has become a point of contention with magazine publishers, especially since Apple doesn't support magazine subscriptions at this time.

Apple told Sony that in-app purchases had to go through the App Store, according to the Times. This insinuates that Sony had created its own payment method for in-app book purchases that circumvented the regular App Store process.

Sony has this notice regarding the Reader for iPhone app on the Sony Reader website:

Unfortunately, with little notice, Apple changed the way it enforces its rules and this will prevent the current version of the Reader for iPhone from being available in the app store. We opened a dialog with Apple to see if we can come up with an equitable resolution but reached an impasse at this time. We're exploring other avenues to bring the Reader experience to Apple mobile devices. We know that many of you are eagerly awaiting the application and we appreciate your continued patience.

Does This Really Affect Amazon? Probably Not

Because Sony isn't allowed to use its in-app purchase system on the iPhone, many are jumping to the conclusion that these new policies would also apply to apps from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Kobo.

We disagree. We don't know how Sony's Reader for iPhone application was supposed to work, but comparing Sony's overall Reader ecosystem with Kindle, Nook and Kobo reveals some important differences.

The way that Amazon, Kobo and B&N currently get around Apple's in-app purchase fee is by redirecting users to the mobile website where e-books can be purchased. The next time the e-reader application is launched, a new addition to the library is located and the file is downloaded into the app.

Amazon and the other e-book companies can do this because books can be purchased directly from their websites. This isn't the case with the Sony Reader Store.

Sony was one of the first companies to release a standalone e-reader device, however the company has lagged behind the competition in terms of its content library. Books cannot be purchased from the Reader Store website; instead a desktop application has to be downloaded for PC or Mac.

Update: Apple has clarified that it has not changed its policies, it is simply requiring apps that offer "customers the ability to purchase books outside of the app, that the same option is also available to customers from within the app with in-app purchase."

On the surface, this may suggest that Apple will require that e-book apps from Amazon and others to offer an in-app purchasing option alongside the ability to buy a title outside of the app.

Still, we're not sure on the exact semantics of how this process works. The Nook and Kindle apps, as an example, make users visit the respective websites to browse for books and make purchases. In fact, I can go to Amazon.com in Mobile Safari and purchase a Kindle book without ever entering the app on the iPhone or iPad. Conversely, some apps, including Kobo, allow users to browse titles within the app but push users to the web to complete a purchase.

It isn't clear if the browsing methodology and where the "buy" button exists in the app has any impact on Apple's policy — our requests for clarification have not been answered.

From Sony's point of view, we can certainly understand that making an entire catalog of e-books available via in-app purchase might be a significant logistical challenge.

Apple Might Still Be Cracking Down

E-book semantics aside, it is possible that Apple is requiring that all in-app purchases take place through its own system.

We've seen occasional in-app payment modules take place outside the confines of the App Store — PayPal even introduced the feature in its mobile API last year.

In other words, this decision might not be problematic for companies like Amazon or Barnes & Noble, but it might affect developers that offer in-app purchases using alternative payment processing methods.

We are skeptical that Apple is actually changing its developer terms to limit access to purchased data stored in the cloud. Using the cloud to populate a native application (which is essentially what the Kindle app does) is something that thousands of applications do every single day.

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